Have you ever gone on a long car trip with young children? After only ten minutes, did one of them ask, “How much farther is it?” When faced with this question, you, as an adult, are under no legal obligation to respond. In case you haven’t figured this out yet, if you respond, the child will likely continue to ask the same question over and over and over. Finally, you might reach your limit and answer in an angry tone, daring him to ask the question again. However, if you extend your “ignoring zone,” the frequency of the question is likely to diminish.
Have you ever witnessed an adult, be it a parent or teacher, playing yes-no Ping-Pong with a child? “I’m not going to do it!” “Yes you will.” “No I won’t.” “Yes you will!” No one wins at this game. So the simple answer is not to play. Do not engage in power struggles with children. Simple? Yes. Easy? No.
The fact is that some behaviors are dealt with most effectively when they are ignored. But many teachers do not realize that this possibility even exists. They think they have to address every little situation every time. This leads to aggravation, frustration, and wasted teaching time. These teachers are constantly running around trying to put out fires and sometimes actually fueling the very fires they are attempting to extinguish. The act of ignoring in the classroom should not be confused with avoiding. Ignoring is an intentional action whereby the teacher chooses whether or not to respond to a student’s behavior and if so, when. The choice to ignore is a strategy whereby the teacher is actually dealing with the situation by ignoring it in an attempt to diminish or stop a certain behavior. The strategy of ignoring is used often by effective teachers. Today you’ll show all your teachers how to use this strategy effectively.
Begin the inservice by sharing the “child on a long car trip” scenario. Ask if they’ve ever been guilty of playing yes-no Ping-Pong with a student in their classrooms. Explain to your teachers that sometimes it is more effective to ignore a student’s behavior than to add any energy to the situation. The operative word here is “sometimes.” There are many behaviors that cannot and should not be ignored.
Provide the following two scenarios and ask which of the two could be ignored and which could not be ignored:
Discuss the fact that scenario 1 could be ignored, in hopes that the student will eventually give up on trying to express her dissatisfaction with the assignment and get busy. Scenario 2 is a situation that cannot be ignored, for obvious reasons. So now you’ve established that there are some actions that can be ignored and some that cannot.
Next, give a few examples of typical classroom situations that could be ignored or possibly ignored temporarily until the teacher decides how and when to deal with them. After you discuss the following, have teachers add and discuss several situations of their own:
Now give a few examples of situations that should not be ignored. After discussing the following, have the teachers add and discuss several situations of their own:
And now discuss the following benefits of ignoring (or temporarily ignoring) certain student behaviors. Allow your teachers to add a few benefits of their own.
Ask your teachers to practice their “ignoring” skills this coming week. Put a list titled “Ignore More” in the lounge or near the teachers’ mailboxes or somewhere that is easily accessible to all. Tell them you would like each of them to add one example of a situation where using the strategy of ignoring has been beneficial in their classrooms. Once the list is complete, share it with everyone.